


The Past Came To Haunt Me Today

by Velocity_Owl87



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, Character Death Fix, Character Study, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Families of Choice, Father-Daughter Relationship, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Mother-Son Relationship, Motherhood, One Night Stands, Secret Children, Serious Injuries, Slice of Life, Teen Pregnancy, Unconventional Families, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-14
Updated: 2013-09-10
Packaged: 2017-12-23 11:38:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/925945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velocity_Owl87/pseuds/Velocity_Owl87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the Drift, Raleigh had seen everything of his brother and that knowledge was the only thing he had of him. But the Kaiju are back and Raleigh's pulled into the fray once more. He agrees reluctantly to go and It's in Hong Kong he may have found his last connection to Yancy through the Hansen Family.</p><p>But he hadn't counted on the stubbornness of Charlie Hansen, an over-protective Herc Hansen, an uncooperative Mako Mori and the Apocalypse coming too damned soon for his liking. </p><p>Nor did he count on his own traitorous emotions either, making a simple task into a complicated journey from hell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hidden Secrets I Never Thought I'd See

**Author's Note:**

> So this story was just a random 3 Am thought about Yancy and Chuck (Charlie) meeting up having a one night stand in the past. That neither of them expected to have any repercussions from and Raleigh finding out years later of a nephew and then trying to figure out how things are going to work out from there. Especially after he's starting to develop feelings for Charlie. 
> 
> Ages are fiddled about here: Charlie was 16 when she met Yancy and although it's legal in Australia and Canada, it's not the case everywhere. Raleigh is a bit younger and closer to Charlie's age. Mako is a bit older than Charlie and everyone else is a bit younger, give or take some years.
> 
> Again, this has been edited, but if there are typos, my apologies.

She wasn’t Yancy’s type at all, Raleigh would recall later, when they had made it back from their weekend leave and got back to the normal routine of being pilots.

He would remember her as being  young and wide eyed and almost naive with it. He had seen her at the bar, sitting there nursing a drink that was more mixer than rum and playing cool despite it being obvious that it was her first time in a place like that. His brother liked them older and worldly and with the stereotypical Midwestern beauty. This girl wasn’t that at all. Her hair was too red to be a true blonde like he knew his brother preferred and her eyes were also more hazel green than blue and she was too tall, almost able to meet his gaze when she stood.

He remembered her being the exact opposite of what his brother always sought out and that was the reason why he didn’t forget her like he did with the others.

He also didn’t forget how Yancy had been so contentedly smug when he got back, smelling of  sex and faint perfume and mussed up hair when he did. They didn’t speak of it again and Raleigh nearly forgot it all until Alaska.

Raleigh saw it all in the drift: Her sun-kissed skin, her hair flowing down her back, her long limbs. Her wide eyes as Yancy entered her and how she had moaned when he moved inside her. The throaty sounds of pleasure when Yancy bent his head between her thighs. All of it he saw at the same time he heard Yancy’s amusement at Raleigh’s reaction to the scenes that were unfolding in front of him as the drift was initialized.

Raleigh remembered how embarrassed he had been at having that in plain view and had practically fled from it all. He hadn’t always been keen on that aspect of the drift. Especially with his brother’s penchant for beautiful women. He had often joked that drifting with Yancy had made watching porn a moot point. He had seen it all due to Yancy’s sex life.

Then Alaska had changed everything and Raleigh realized the bitter solitude was much, much worse than being embarrassed by his brother’s escapades.

At least if he was seeing it in the drift, it was proof that Yancy was still alive.

He ran off after that. Couldn’t bring himself to move past that. He clung to the memory of Yancy and walled everyone out. He faded from the world and the world faded from him.

It was no coincidence that he had chosen to work on a wall that he very well knew was a futile last minute attempt to stop the Kaiju.

But he was too tired and too dead inside to care and only kept taking the work that was given to him and that was the end of it, as far as he was concerned. He had the scars to prove that being a hero wasn’t worth the heavy price it carved from him. So he kept his head down for five years. He thought that he had hidden well enough in Anchorage. Another grey and drab worker who was only fulfilling his quota of daily work.

It was the case until the Sidney attack.

He stood, like everyone else, transfixed on the screen and watched as the Mark V Jaeger, Striker Eureka got rid of the Kaiju in minutes. He almost didn’t register the exclamations about the uselessness of the wall. He filed it all away as peripheral noise and let it wash over him when he saw the two pilots of Striker Eureka.

A tall man with a weatherbeaten face and military bearing with ginger hair and intense blue eyes. He should have remembered that face and that bearing, but nothing came to him. The second pilot was also someone that he felt he had seen long before, but the familiarity came even stronger with her and with a tinge of unease he hadn’t felt with the man.

She was tall and pretty in a quiet way, with auburn hair braided back from a face that was trying for severe and was only managing it due to her expression. He was sure that she normally didn’t look so forbidding and remote. Her face wasn’t built along those lines. She wasn’t speaking and was broodingly silent as the male pilot addressed the crowd of reporters. One tried to engage her, but she shot him down quickly with an acerbic reply that warned the others to back off.

“That’s a cold bitch if I ever saw one.”  One of the men on his billet muttered after that interaction, but Raleigh couldn’t find it in himself to agree. He  had been on the other side of a reporter’s mike enough times to know that after a battle, even a successful one, the last thing he wanted was for a microphone to be shoved in his face and to be asked inane questions at the same time.

He should have turned away from the screen, but he couldn’t help the nagging feeling he had seen her before. Somewhere else and in hazy circumstances, but he had.

The nagging feeling was pushed to the side when the sound of a helicopter touching down and the Marshall stepped out and gave him an offer he couldn’t, despite his reservations, refuse.

~*~*~*~*

He didn’t think that anyone would really talk to him after he got the tour of the Hong Kong Shatterdome and was set loose to explore and maybe get some food. Although he was intrigued by Mako, his stomach had reminded him that despite the work he had done that day; He still hadn’t eaten anything. Talking to Mako could wait. He needed food first.

Raleigh got his share and was looking for somewhere to eat when the Striker Eureka pilot invited him to come sit with him. Although Raleigh often preferred to be alone, he felt the need to give in and talk to the man. He was still overwhelmed enough to want a fixed point and the Australian was fine with providing that.

Raleigh followed suit and sat down across from the woman pilot, noticing how she was patiently trying to get a blonde haired five year old to eat and not feed the bulldog that was sitting below the table from his plate.

“Son, Max has gotten fed plenty already. D’ ye want him to roll behind you?”

The boy giggled and shook his head, finally picking up his fork to clumsily guide a forkful of mashed potatoes to his mouth. When he did, Raleigh got a good look at his face and felt a shiver of recognition. The boy was still baby-faced and snub nosed, but the rest of his features were clear enough for him to recognize the family resemblance. The boy’s face was one that Raleigh had seen for years when he sat across the table. Other than the eyes being the same hazel green as the eyes of the woman that was now concentrating on her own dinner, Raleigh could have sworn that the child was the spitting image of his brother, Yancy.

He didn’t have time to really put it all together right then and there, because the Australian man was doing the introductions.

“Herc Hansen. This here’s my daughter Charlie and my grandson Jax.”

He introduced the woman and the little boy, who only looked up briefly from the task of eating dinner. Raleigh gave him a smile he was sure was weak before the boy went back to his dinner. Charlie, his mother looked at Raleigh with a mixture of emotions that flashed by too fast across her face for him to pin down until she settled on cold politeness.

“Gypsy’s pilot, right?” She asked him as her father served himself some mashed potatoes and started to tease his grandson, giving them some semblance of space and privacy to talk.

“One of them, yeah.” Raleigh replied, trying to keep the stab of sorrow he felt about Yancy at bay. He hadn’t ever spoken about his brother so much since he had passed away and it wasn’t getting any easier. Charlie’s mouth twisted into a suggestion of a smile before she glanced covertly at Jax who was happily chattering away with Herc Hansen while Max the bulldog whined for scraps.

“He was a good pilot. Alaska notwithstanding.” She stated, her eyes focusing on his face, making Raleigh feel as if she was looking for a trace of Yancy on his face.

He would have sniped back, but the look in her eyes coupled with the uneasy feeling of deja vu stopped him. Besides, even though her mannerisms were brittle, they weren’t outright hostile. He was sure she was looking at him and saying those things to distract from what was easily seen now that he was close to the boy.

She looked away from him after several minutes of scrutiny and looked down to her dinner, making a small moue of distaste at the food before forcing herself to eat a few forkfuls, leaving Raleigh with his thoughts. He stole covert looks at Jax and at Charlie, cataloguing their similarities and differences as they warred with memories of childhood. He was itching to know the boy’s paternity so he could lay his suspicions to rest, but when Herc gave him a not so subtle nudge as he reached for the pepper, Raleigh decided to focus on his own food instead.

They ate in a silence that was neither awkward or comfortable and interrupted only by Charlie and Jax interacting with Herc occasionally speaking up, Max the dog also joined in with whines and barks and Raleigh couldn’t help but feel as if he was home again. He shut down the pang of longing and nostalgia down quickly and not soon enough, it seemed. He was still caught in the emotion when Charlie motioned Jax to pick up his tray once he had sufficiently cleaned it.

Herc didn’t bat an eye and only nodded at his daughter, while Raleigh looked up quizzically. Charlie wrinkled her nose, but still gave him an explanation.

“It’s his bedtime. I guess I’ll be seeing you sometime, Raleigh. Keep my co-pilot amused in the meantime.”

It wasn’t a dismissal, but it wasn’t friendly either and it also gave no hint of what she must have thought or felt at seeing him, but not Yancy. He filed it away for later, when he had gotten properly settled and found a new pilot he could drift with and get back into Gypsy again.

Jax grinned a gap-toothed smile before he walked beside his mother and Max. Herc and Raleigh watched them go before he turned to look at Herc. The older man smiled ruefully before he took a sip of his water.

“I know. I’m still trying to wrap my head around being a grandda. She was nearly seventeen when Jax was born. Had to raise them both in the Shatterdome.” He shrugged, but his mouth was tight at the edges with what Jax had to assume were painful memories. Herc sighed and shook his head.

“Shame that the wall didn’t hold.  She was a raised as a soldier, but the Shatterdome shouldn’t have been the place for her. Nor should it have been for Jax either. But with her mother dead and with us being drift compatible...What can you do?”

Raleigh made a small noise of agreement and ate a few mouthfuls of potatoes before he dared to ask the question that was plaguing him.

“And Jax’s father? Is he around?”

Herc’s mouth twisted into a frown before he shook his head again.

“She never said his name. Or she never knew. She was sixteen  when she snuck out of the Academy and never saw him again after it was all said and done. I didn’t find out about it until she collapsed during a training session and it was too late then and I didn’t have the nerve to force my daughter to give up my grandson. Not when we’re all that we’ve got.”

Herc looked away again, not wanting to meet Raleigh’s gaze, something that Raleigh was glad about. He wasn’t sure whether he could keep his face blank without showing cracks. “Whoever he was, he must have struck a nerve deep enough in her to keep Jax. Charlie’s dream was always to be a Ranger. Nothing was going to stop her, so intent she was on fulfilling it. I never worried about her getting her head turned by a pretty boy cadet spouting romantic nonsense. But Jax’s father, he must have been something else to have made her put her dreams aside to have him.”

Herc didn’t say anything more after that and they finished their dinner in silence, Herc leaving first to check on his family.

Raleigh left a little bit later and went straight to his room, where he picked up the stack of well thumbed photographs before he came across one of Yancy standing alone in Anchorage.

Yeah, Raleigh thought as he looked at the photo. Herc Hansen was right.

Yancy sure had been something else.

And he had no idea how he was going to be able to look at the Hansens in the face without flinching now that he knew.

 


	2. It's These Things I Can't Say To You Yet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako and Her have an interlude while Charlie remembers that particular night and Herc starts getting a bit too close for comfort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was intrigued with the idea of how we don't really know a person, hence the many clandestine meetings and affairs going on here. Also, I wrote Charlie as less brash and abrasive, but also more self-aware due to having that perfectionism come into play with her son. 
> 
> Herc and Charlie also are more open, but still tip-toe around each other to keep the peace and do more of it due to Jax and Max. 
> 
> To all that are checking this out, thanks. I know it's not a usual fare, but hey, had to write it. 
> 
> It has been edited, but again, if there are mistakes, my apologies. 
> 
> Cheers!

Mako was wearing her little brown cardigan when Herc came to see her later that night, when dinner had been eaten and both knew that the Marshall would be busy with other matters and not require either of them. Candidates had been short-listed to pilot Gypsy Danger and the day’s work was done. Except for the research team, that was.

But it didn’t matter to them at the moment.

She smiled when she opened the door wider to let him in and he returned it as he reached behind himself and locked the door. Mako came forward and slid her arms around his neck, making him stoop down a little to accommodate her.

“How much time do we have?”

He smiled a bit lopsidedly as he put his hands on her shoulders and thumbed at the felted leaves on it.

“An hour and a half. Charlie thinks I’m with the Marshall.”

Mako smiled and drew him in for a kiss.

“Good.”

Herc kissed her, hard and fast the way she liked it. Mako took the opportunity to jump up and wrap her legs around his hips. Herc huffed a laugh, but took the hint and moved them to Mako’s bunk.

They stripped with the same military proficiency that had been drilled into both of them and got into bed. She crawled backwards onto the bed, the dyed tips of her hair sticking to her cheeks and framing the mischievous smile she was giving him as he followed.

He covered her body with his, her arms coming up to wrap around his broad, scarred back while her legs locked around his hips. His hands were on either side of her head as he dipped his head for a kiss. She accepted it, nipping at his lip when one of his hands went between her legs and slid right in.

She sighed as he curled his finger just the right way, touching that rough spot that had her clenching around his finger. He deepened the kiss as his fingers moved up to her clit.

Mako couldn’t keep quiet and that was when Herc took his hand away. He shifted his hips and put his hand beside her head.

He pulled away in time to see her eyes widen as he canted his hips and thrust, burying himself inside her completely. Once he was sure she had gotten used to him inside, he pulled back and thrust inside, making her slide on the sheets.

Herc did this a couple more times, the only sounds in her room being the harsh breathing of both of them as Herc sped up or slowed down, depending on how hard she gripped him, or how she canted her hips to meet his thrusts, no matter how brutal they would have been. They weren’t talkers, there was too much chance that they would be over-head by someone.

Their breathing got louder and harsher and the room felt like it was melting when Herc groaned quietly, while Mako squeaked her orgasm in his ear.

He rolled off and smiled at her, kissing her sweaty temple as they lay there, staring up at the ceiling as they enjoyed the afterglow.

They didn’t really speak, only enjoyed each other’s company in a way that they couldn’t in their daily lives, since they were both too busy with their respective duties and families to get away.

Yet it never lasted long enough for either of them.

He debated staying the night once, but Mako had vetoed the idea, pointing out reasonably that they were pushing it as it was. They had so little privacy in the Shatterdome and if Charlie and Jax noticed he wasn’t in their quarters, was he ready to answer the questions that were bound to come up?

He couldn’t. He wanted to say that he did, but he was sure that he couldn’t. Not when it would simply become another thing to hide in the Drift between himself and his daughter. He wasn’t ashamed of his relationship with Mako in the slightest. Maybe if Charlie wasn’t so...volatile and confused, Herc would have brought it up. But she wasn’t and there was also Jax and his putative father to consider.

And that was after their efforts to destroy the breach and kill off the Kaiju once and for all. They didn’t have time.

He glanced at his watch sometime after and swore softly, leaving Mako to lie on her side and watch him as he pulled his clothes on hastily. Once he was done, he moved to the bed and kissed the corner of her mouth.

“Good night.”

She didn’t say anything. Only smiled before he left her room, leaving her to sleep with the memories of what they had done clearly imprinted on her mind.

She would much rather have dreams of Herc any day than relive the memories of her former life over again.

~*~*~*~*~

Charlie waited until Jax was tucked in bed, deeply asleep with Max curled up beside him before she went to her bed. Reaching underneath, she grabbed the box she kept locked up and out of prying eyes and unlocked it. It didn’t take her that long to go through the keepsakes and documents she stored there. Rifling through her diplomas, certificates and other miscellania, she sighed when she found it.

It was still in near perfect condition. Only weathered around the edges just a bit from her handling. It was a polaroid picture of her at fifteen, grinning the pleased and smug smile of having gotten the most sought after man in the room to notice her. Right beside her was that exact man, wearing a leather jacket she later patterned hers after and the roguish smile to match. His hair was slicked back and his smile held all the confidence and charm she had been immediately struck by the moment she saw him come into the bar.

Yancy Becket, the older of the Beckets and the second pilot of Gypsy Danger.

She had known who he was the moment he and his brother had walked in, but pretended she didn’t. She had seen how he and his brother had quickly turned the star-struck away and she was determined she was going to keep her dignity and her distance. She was only a few months shy of graduating and making her mark as he had and she knew even then, she had the talents to be one of the best or possible the best. She was not going to lower herself to a groupie’s level. Not when she was close to being their equal.

So she did what very few thought her capable of: She waited. Nursing a drink she was far too young to have and dressed in a too small navy vest, her shirt tied at her waist and her hair loose. She waited for him to notice her and go from there.

To her surprise, it didn’t take long for him to come over.

She didn’t ask where his brother went. She was too focused on not making a fool out of herself and spoiling this night and besides; it wasn’t his brother that interested her. She only had eyes for him and he knew it, after watching her for awhile.

She should have backed away when he took her arm and led her upstairs and returned to the academy dorms. But she wasn’t ready to fall back into the good little cadet role just yet. Charlie needed this escape. Just one night of harmless fun to pretend that she didn’t need to push herself so damned hard. To be Herc Hansen’s bloody minded daughter, who was already tagged as the pilot for the most modern Jaeger being constructed. To be Mako Mori’s rival.

Right then and there, she could just be a girl with no cares in the world looking forward to losing her virginity to a man she found attractive. She knew it wasn’t love. It was purely physical and she could live with that. She didn’t want love, nor did she need it. She had her father and she had her puppy.

That was all she needed inside the Shatterdome and the Academy.

Right now, she needed to be in his arms and forget the weight of expectations on her shoulders. She just wanted to be under him and forget it all.

“It’s not much, but it’s something.” Yancy told her, snapping her back to the moment.

They were in a modest, but clean room. The bed sheets looked like they had seen better days, but were clean. There were water bottles and several packets of condoms on the nightstand and the sight of those made her pulse race and her breathing quicken.

She didn’t have time to give into the impulse when Yancy turned her towards him and tilted his head to kiss her and turn her thoughts off completely. She sighed against his mouth as he pulled her so that they were flush against each other’s bodies. She could feel, despite the thick material, the thickness of him against her hip as he kissed her. He was good, she thought before he guided her to the bed, breaking off the kiss so that she could scoot up to the pillows.

Propped up on her elbows, she watched him shuck his clothes with military precision, leaving him only in tight boxer shorts before he crawled up the bed and smiled at her before they started kissing once more. She let him explore her body, pulling off her clothes and leaving her only in her underwear, while she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

She stiffened when he hooked his fingers on the elastic of her knickers and pulled them off to feel her cunt. She was wet and he made a soft noise when he stroked her, making her arch into him. He stroked her until her legs were wide open for him, his mouth busy on hers and on her neck and shoulder. She let him, tilting her head back for easier access, soaking in the attention of a man other than her father.

She craved touch and he seemed to know it, focusing on touching her everywhere, getting her ready before he finally broke off the kissing. Charlie was surprised and wondering what he was up to, but he only winked at her as he bent his head to kiss and suck a trail down her chest and abdomen. Charlie was watching him in surprise as he dipped his head between her thighs, shocked that he was going to put his mouth there.

The shock only lasted for a few moments before she threw her head back at the feel of him licking inside of her. Her thighs trembled when he did it again: a slow, deep lick that felt like he was licking right at her core. He kept at it, licking her and making her close her eyes and her thighs bracket his head as he probed deep into her. His hands were gripping her hips and then moved down to her thighs when his tongue pressed down on her clit, making her give out a harsh cry and her hips lift up at the pleasure she was feeling at his skillful administrations.  His fingers tightened around her upper legs and she knew that she would have bruises there afterward, but it was too damned good for her to care right then and there.  He was parting her, as delicately as if he was pulling a rose apart.With every lick, every press of his tongue, she was falling apart in front of him, something she hadn’t done with anyone since her mother had died. Yancy Becket, out of all people, was making her go to pieces with his mouth. She could only imagine what he would do when he was inside of her.

When he sucked on her swollen clit, she was done for, her strangled cries echoed and re-echoed in her ears as he tasted the juices that had leaked out of her. Charlie gasped and lay still, her breathing fast and shallow as she came down from the orgasm that had made her feel like something had snapped deep in her body.

She didn’t have time to recoup, since he was again on top of her, his lips pressed against her hot skin.

“You good?” He whispered, mouthing at her jawline when she nodded faintly.

“Good. Good.” He huffed out lifting his hips just a fraction, his fingers just barely there before he thrust forward,inch by agonizing inch until he snapped his hips and  broke through.

She was too shocked to react at the feel of him being seated inside of her completely bottoming out. He didn’t move though. He just lay there for a bit, something that she was grateful of, since she was in pain and needed to adjust to him being in there. She heard him swearing quietly, using words she didn’t know before kissing her temple wetly and moving.

His hips moved slowly, gently, until she was canting her hips to meet his.

Their bodies were sweat-slicked and wet as they found a rhythm that worked for the both of them, his hips snapping back and forth in response to her movements and vocalizations. Her nails dug into his back, while his hands gripped the bed frame so tightly it was groaning and creaking as he kept on thrusting into her.

Finally, he groaned loudly and stiffened and collapsed on top of her.

They slept after that. Just briefly, before they went at it again, this time with her on top and gripping the bed frame, his hands cupping her breasts as she moved, her legs sliding on the slippery bedsheets as she bucked and thrust against him, her hair whipping back and forth as she moved, covering him completely when she collapsed.

They shared a brief shower before pulling on their clothes, Yancy pulling her ahead and giving her enough cash for a cab.

They didn’t say anything as the cab pulled up. He only kissed her, a deep kiss that left her breathless as he pressed something else in her hand before seeing her into the cab and turning away.

She was snapped out of her memories when the door squeaked open and she put it all away into the box, locked it and hid it under her bed. She knew that her father wouldn’t question it, but she still wasn’t quite ready to share everything with him just yet.

Just like she knew damned well that he wasn’t ready to share his secrets as well.

She smoothed her uniform trousers over her legs and stood up to greet her father, who was on his way to his shared portion of their quarters, the only area  with a partition and a door.

He knew she was there, so he turned around to look at her, his face slightly drawn with tiredness from the day.

“Jax asleep?”

She nodded and Herc sighed.

“I suspect that Becket could ask to have Mako for his co-pilot. She’s miles ahead of the ones on the list..”

Charlie snorted at the news. It had been drift compatibility that had prevented Mako from being a pilot before Charlie, their aptitude and scores being that closely matched. Charlie refused to think about her father and Mako as pilots. She was sure that something was happening between them as it was, even though she couldn’t prove it. Nor did she want to.

He respected her secrets, it was the least she could do for him also.

“She’s good, but will the Marshall let her?”

“We’ll see. They’re going to do a test run on Gypsy tomorrow.”

Charlie chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully at that.

“Do you think he can do it? He’s not been in a Jaeger in five years and Yancy dying had to-”

“The Marshal thinks so. That’s all I need. We need all the help we can get, Charlie. We need to finish this and if Becket can do it, then that’s all I care about.”

“Yeah, well, let’s hope so. We’ve not just got the world to save, dad. If he screws it up, I’ll personally drop him.”

Her dad didn’t say anything and only grinned wryly and Charlie was sure that he was recalling when she was obsessed with the Becket brothers and Gypsy Danger, which added yet another layer of embarrassment to her having to interact with Raleigh and him seeing Jax.

“We’ll deal with that tomorrow, Charlotte.”

She thought that was going to be end of the conversation, but her father didn’t move into his room. Instead, he looked at her sharply and Charlie felt herself get as nervous as she had when she had come to and found him sitting next to her bed in the infirmary room with her pregnancy test results in hand.

“I’ve not pushed you to say anything about Jackson’s dad before. But seeing Raleigh Becket and Jax beside each other and how you were about-”

Charlie blinked and shook her head violently, her face going bright red at the implied question.

“No! God! No!”

Herc stared at her a bit longer before nodding.

“All right, then. Good night, Charlie.”

Her throat was super dry, but she still managed to wish him a good night before heading to the sink in the corner and getting ready for bed.

She didn’t want to analyze the expression on her father’s face when he had wished her good night, but she couldn’t help but to feel that he didn’t believe her.

Especially not when the proof was there, in Jax’s features.

She sighed and pushed it out of her head.

It didn’t matter. The mission would be done and they’d be back home again and all of this would be forgotten and maybe then, she’d have the courage to finally admit who Jax’s father really was.

 


	3. We're Going To Settle This, I Swear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Drift doesn't happen as it should and Charlie and Raleigh have it all out, with mixed intentions and results. Herc finally gets half the truth and redemption comes with a heavy price to pay and more questions than before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Charlie is a mixture of bitchy and scrappy in this one and yes, I did write it that they got into a knock-down, drag out fight, but I can't see that scene being changed. Both of them have their reasons for fighting and both think are justified, so it stayed.
> 
> I also have more talking between the Hansens because Jax has changed the dynamics between them. I can't see them being so closed off that they wouldn't. 
> 
> Proofread and edited, but if there are mistakes, my apologies.

To say that his and Mako’s drift test had gone wrong was an understatement.

It had been only the quick thinking of the Hansens and Tendo that had prevented anything or anyone from being destroyed. Raleigh understood the problem, but he needed a pilot and Mako was perfect, even though she had gotten lost in the memories. They needed her.

But first, she had to deal with an irate Charlie Hansen, who had gone from being ambivalent to looking completely murderous when they crossed paths.

Raleigh felt his stomach clench when he saw her standing in the hall right by the room that had Herc and the Marshal shouting at each other so loudly that the door did nothing to block the sounds. At least they heard no clear words and Raleigh was glad. Mako was looking mortified and had retreated into herself after the disastrous attempt at drifting. He knew she wouldn’t fight back if the Marshal gave the order and he wasn’t about to let her slip out of his grasp now that he had a co-pilot for his beloved Gypsy.

“What was all that about? You nearly got my dad killed!” Charlie’s voice and her words made both him and Mako flinch and Raleigh wonder if it was because she was a mother that she had the perfect mixture of anger and disappointment downpat.

She crossed her arms and glared at Mako, who was trying to blend with the walls or the floor in her mortification.

“I guess all those simulations and test scores were for nothing, or was it your aim to kill my father leave me without a pilot and Jax without his grandfather?”

Mako flinched even worse that time around and Raleigh felt his temper rise at that.

“Hey! She made a mistake, Charlie-”

“I don’t know if you understood, Becket, but we have no room for mistakes! Pilots, equipment, the Shatterdome itself. Nothing can be lost. We have to get it right.”

Her eyes were bright as she spoke and her cheekbones had gotten darker as her anger rose.

“But if that’s how you feel, that it’s just a mistake, I can understand why Yancy’s not here anymore.”

Raleigh saw red at that, but didn’t give her the satisfaction and instead bit his tongue and turned to Mako.

“Figures you’d run away. Just go back to the wall, Raleigh. Just like Mako should go back to punching numbers for the Marshall and leave my father be.”

Raleigh stiffened and turned around halfway, only to be stopped by Mako, whose face was completely white.

He moved without thought and had completed the arc of a swing that never connected.

Charlie was fast.

She ducked under his punch and swept his feet out from under him. He landed on his back with a whoosh as the air left his lungs at the impact. He didn’t stay down for long, jumping to his feet to face Charlie, who had gotten into a fighter’s crouch, her fists up to defend herself.

“Charlie. Raleigh, that’s enough!” Mako pleaded with both of them.

But neither listened and it was Charlie that hit out first again, her mouth twisted in an ironic grin when she connected a solid blow against his cheek. His head snapped back, but he regained his senses back to strike out and get her in the solar plexus. She staggered back, choking and wheezing. He saw his opening and took it. He hit her across the face with such force that she fell back into the pipes and smashed them.

Raleigh thought that would have been the end of it, but she still came back at him, knocking him down and straddling him, punching him hard enough to make him see stars. He grabbed her arms and bucked against her, throwing her off balance enough for her to stop hitting him.

She shrieked and it was at that exact moment the shouting between Herc and the Marshal stopped and Herc saw exactly what was going on between his daughter and Raleigh.

“Hey! What are you doing! Enough of that!” Herc shouted, pulling her off bodily, her struggles as inconsequential as a child’s as he dragged her off of Becket.

“Charlie, that’s enough girl. Enough.” His voice was like death in that small space and she gave up the fight. Her eyes still blazed like the furies, but that was the time that the Marshal stepped out of the room and called them both in.

He only gave them a cursory glance before he went back inside, leaving Herc to haul off his daughter without asking another word.

~*~*~*~*~

Raleigh didn’t know what to do with himself once he had heard the news.

They were grounded.

Mako refused to go against the man that had saved her and brought her up. She had also refused to come near, leaving him alone to wonder why she had been extremely pale faced and silent through the entire ordeal.

He wasn’t exactly hungry, but he had been without enough times to know he needed to eat when food was available. He went to the dining hall and ate with Tendo and Jax, who were the only two people who weren’t staring at him oddly like the rest of the hall.

He supposed he had Jax to thank for dispelling any awkwardness that could have appeared.

“What happened to yer face?”

Tendo snickered at that and left Raleigh on his own.

“Got into a fight.”

“Did you win?”

“It was a tie.”

Jax nodded and focused on his food, his fair hair falling into his face and hiding it.

“My mum and grandda fight Kaijus. They’ve always won.”

A whine from underneath the table caught his attention and he disappeared, leaving Raleigh and Tendo alone.

He was so relieved to have the simple company of Tendo, Jax and Max that he almost didn’t question why Tendo was watching the child.

“I watch him sometimes. When Herc and Charlie need to talk.” Tendo told him when Jax had dropped below the table to feed Max, who was making a game of dinner rather than just accepting the pieces of stew that the boy was feeding him.

“He’s a good kid.” Tendo added as he took a long sip of his coffee. He put the cup down and looked thoughtfully at Raleigh, his eyes dark and unfathomable as he did.

“Makes me think of Yancy in a way. What a kid of his would have been like if he had survived and settled down.”

Raleigh swallowed his food down hard and looked at Tendo sharply.

Tendo shrugged and kept on sipping his coffee.

“It’s not common knowledge or speculation. I just remember Yancy better than most.”

Raleigh thought back to the Marshal then, the blood and the conversation they had.

“Does the Marshal or her father know?”

Tendo opened his mouth to reply, but shut it so quickly his teeth clacked when he did. Jax’s head had popped up and he grinned happily, his face shiny with Max’s slobber.

“I guess he ate it?” Tendo asked Jax, who nodded.

“He was being picky about it. Then he licked me all over! I’m wet!” Jax said this with a giggle.

“Yeah, I can see that.” Tendo commented as he picked up a napkin, dipped it in some water and wiped Jax’s face clean. Jax squealed a bit and struggled, but endured it with good grace, making Raleigh’s heart crack just a bit more at the sight. He remembered his mother doing the same for him and Yancy. A faded memory he hadn’t even thought he had until now.

He watched Tendo finish the job and tease Jax, a small smile tugging at his lips as he mechanically ate the rest of the food on his tray.

He was just finishing the last bits when Tendo slurped down the rest of his coffee and stood up from the table; prompting Jax to do the same.

“I’ll see you later, Raleigh. Kid needs to be with his mom and I need to be back in the control room. Kaijus don’t sleep.”

Raleigh nodded, toying with his food as he watched them leave before deciding to visit Gypsy Danger. If he couldn’t pilot her, he could at least visit her.

He found Mako sitting there, her tray beside her and he couldn’t help to feel a pang of guilt at the sight of her alone and staring at Gypsy as if she had the answers to why things hadn’t worked out that afternoon.

“Hey.” He called out, making her startle and look back at him. She didn’t quite smile at him, but she also didn’t seem hostile as he moved to sit near her.

He didn’t ask her how she was feeling. Her pale face and smudged eyes were enough proof that she was far from over the situation. But she wasn’t as crushed as she had been right after the meeting with the Marshall.

“How long have you been here? With her?”

She shrugged. “Not long.”

Raleigh nodded as he made himself comfortable. Or as comfortable as one could be on the metal catwalk grid.

“I can see why you love her so much.” Mako finally broke the silence between them as they both turned to look at the silent, hulking figure of Gypsy Danger.

“Yeah. She’s something else.” He replied, resisting the urge to give her empty platitudes about them piloting her soon.

He racked his brain to say something else, but Mako was the one that ended the quiet interlude.

“We will do better next time. I know what went wrong. I can fix it.” Mako murmured her eyes on the orange heart of Gypsy Danger.

Raleigh’s eyebrows shot up at that comment. “It’s not just you. I couldn’t reign in my memories and you got caught up in them.”

“It doesn’t matter. Charlie was right. We can’t afford to let mistakes happen. We don’t have time.”

Raleigh shook his head. “Don’t blame yourself for it all, Mako.”

Mako’s lips tightened. “I have to. If I am to be your co-pilot, I have to be better. Just like Charlie can keep up with Herc.”

Raleigh blew out a breath as the words sunk in. He had seen it, her feelings for and trysts with Herc. He had also seen and felt everything she had when she had found that Charlie was drift compatible with her father. He had tasted the disappointment and the bitterness that had accompanied that revelation. She had wanted to be his co-pilot and cement what they had between them. She had wanted to best her constant rival, but had fallen short. Again. He understood all that she was feeling, just like he understood her childhood trauma, but he wasn’t about to even go near that.

Just like Mako knew to not say anything about the memories she had seen in his head. Of Yancy and of the second hand view he had gotten of Charlie’s fling with his brother.

Mako was still so tied into his own thought patterns that she knew exactly what was going through his head.

Her face darkened and she bit her bottom lip, worrying slightly as she realized what she had just said and what it led to.

She stopped biting her lip and got up, her tray balanced in one hand before inclining her head toward Raleigh and taking her leave of him.

He rubbed his face roughly and remained looking at Gypsy for a few more minutes before finally giving up and heading to his room.

Tomorrow needed to be better than this.

~*~*~*~*

"You all right, Charlie?"

She wanted to be childish and remain sullenly quiet and refuse to answer her father, but she couldn't. It was her own stupid fault and impulsive behaviour that had her getting into a fist fight with Raleigh Becket, even though she knew full well that she wasn't going to be able to beat him. She knew, the moment she had thrown the punch and Raleigh had taken it, that she should have backed away.

But the idea of her father dying and the quick rush she had to make to get Jax to a safe place had fuelled her rage and made her reckless with it. Maybe she should have told him, but she was too far gone in her anger. Her family's safety was what she had been concerned with and she was determined to make the perpetrators that threatened it pay. Even if it was Jax's uncle and one of her oldest friend’s and rival from the academy.

Charlie hadn't thought it through and acted.

And had thoroughly gotten her ass handed to her by Raleigh and was basically hauled off like a recalcitrant teenager and bawled out like a green recruit by her father. She had taken it all silently, but had to stop and wipe tears of fury from her eyes a couple of times.

Now that her father had gotten his anger out of his system and asked her that, she had to take a deep breath and nod her head.

Herc also sighed and scrubbed his face with his hands and looked away before speaking again.

"They both screwed up and I'm not going to deny that, but we need them. We need everyone if we're going to make it work."

Charlie let her head fall back against the wall in the unused hallway that they were standing in.

"We could have gotten killed, old man. All of us." Charlie replied, her voice coming out slightly strangled as she fought to keep the fear and anger from bubbling up to the surface.

"If Tendo and you hadn't acted like you did and if he hadn’t handed me Jax and told me to take off..." She trailed off and shook her head.

Herc moved closer and put his hands on his daughter's shoulders, making Charlie let her head fall forward to look at him.

"You got him out safe. We're all safe. They're grounded until we figure out how give them another run. It's done, Charlotte."

Charlie frowned and winced as her lip protested the action. Raleigh had gotten her good. She raised her hand to touch it lightly and inwardly winced when her fingers came back covered in blood.

She wiped her hand on her trousers and looked up at her father.

"It has to be. I don't trust them out there, having our backs if this is what's going to happen. Mako had good scores, but was too inexperienced and him...he should have known better. It makes me wonder if he was the reason why Yancy was killed in the first place."

Herc's hands tightened on her shoulders hard enough to make her gasp at that. His eyes blazed a dark blue fire and she knew that she had more than crossed the line by her remark. Her old man hadn't ever hit her, but she could tell that he was struggling with the impulse by the way that his grip tightened on her shoulders.

"Don't ever, ever blame Yancy's death on Raleigh, you hear me? It happens as Rangers. We live with the chance that either one of us or both of us will die. So don't ever say that, Charlotte Josephine Hansen. Is that clear?"

Charlie nodded tersely and was released by her father, who shook his head as he studied his daughter closely, taking in the way that her cheeks went bright pink and the way that she was shifting her gaze to anywhere but his face.

"Charlie...Tell me honestly. All of this...it's not all because of what happened today, is it?”

Charlie roughly rubbed at her eyes with the heel of her hand and stubbornly refused to look at Herc.

"Yancy was the one you were with that night.”

Charlie bit her lip and nodded slowly.  There was no point in denying it now and she also wasn’t about to insult her father’s intelligence in doing so.

Herc looked like his anger had completely drained from him. He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by the alarms signalling Kaijus. Charlotte was relieved and wasted no time in getting out of the hallway and going to the Shatterdome. This, she could deal with. Emotional revelations, not so much.

She was sure that she had gotten away with not discussing the topic until her father grabbed her arm, stopping her short.

“After this, we talk. We have to talk and we will talk. Understood?”

Charlie’s eyes narrowed, but she nodded in agreement when she saw the deadly serious expression on her father’s face. One she hadn’t seen since the day that Jax had been born.

“Let’s go.”

~*~*~*~*~

Raleigh shouldn’t have been surprised when the alarms started to ring. Logically he had known that they had only a short time to get things ready. But it was still a surprise when it all started happening so fast. They didn’t get much of a tomorrow, nor did they have much time to put their plan to seal the breach into action. Just like Gottlieb had predicted, Kaijus were coming up and that required everyone not grounded to be out there.

Raleigh would have wanted to be even more resentful and angry at being grounded with Mako until he saw Charlie kneeling down and talking to a half-asleep Jax holding tightly to Max’s leash while he nodded. His face was still bleary with sleep and he looked like he was trying hard to not cry and be brave in front of his mother and grandfather, both who were looking like the conversation was one that they would rather not have at that time of day.

It was the sight of Charlie trying her best to be stoic and reassuring and Herc working hard to keep it together for the both of them that decided it for him.

He didn’t know that he had decided on the action until he was already there, kneeling down beside Charlie and looking at Jax, who wasn’t quite sniffling, but close to it.

“Hey Jax. What’s the matter?”

Jax looked down and his shoulders moved up and down before he finally answered.

“I’m scared for mum and grandad. I’m scared I’m gonna be alone.”

Charlie made a soft noise and she reached out to reassure him, squeezing one shoulder while Herc did the same to the other.

“Jax. No. You won’t be. I’ll still be here. So will Mako. We’ll stay with you. You don’t have to worry about your mum and grandad. Remember? They always win their fights. They’ve never had a tie.”

Jax took a deep breath before nodding and looking up at Raleigh and then to his mother.

Jax did the same and even though he knew that he wasn’t really her favourite person, she bit her lip and nodded.

“Okay.”

Charlie cupped her hand around his face and smiled, despite looking like she was having a hard time not crying.

“Be good, Jackson.”

He moved forward and gave his mother a tight hug before his grandfather picked him up and hugged him roughly, messing up his hair and making the tears that were threatening to fall a thing of the past.

Charlie swallowed hard before she stood up and looked down at the ground when she heard Raleigh do the same.

“Why did you do it? You didn’t have to.”

“I had to. For his sake.”

She nodded before she raised her face to meet his.

“Don’t think that you have to, or that you have an obligation to him or us.”

Her eyes shifted to the side when she said this and her face flushed as she spoke.

He smiled at her and she returned it back and Raleigh felt his heart loosen slightly. Even with the sadness and the large shiner, she was pretty. And young. Just like he had been when Yancy had died.

He also saw, that despite the temper and cutting remarks, she was a mother deeply concerned for her son. A perfectionist and someone who knew the sacrifices she had to make and take them, even when they were tearing her up. He could respect that.

He could also see now, unclouded and unfaded from his memories why Yancy had picked her that night.

“I don’t. I want to.”

Charlie sighed in relief at that, but was stopped from replying when Herc came and deposited Jax in Raleigh’s arms.

“We gotta go.”

~*~*~*~*~

Charlie stood down, her father's control keeping her from giving into her impulses and bounding forward to bail our Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha. She understood that without Gypsy, they were the only viable option to finish the mission. But it still stung to have to hold back and watch and not be able to do anything to help the other Rangers. It was a risk they all took and it was knowledge that they lived with. But it wasn't made any easier.

She understood action and fighting and sacrifice. Inertia and inaction were two things that she was never comfortable in dealing with.

So when the order came, Charlie had never been so ready. They were going to annihilate that Kaiju.

They should have done it. They had the upper hand.

At least before the Kaiju read Striker's next move and feint end and attacked.

And completely brought them to a standstill. First by frying their systems and then by putting her father out of commission, turning the situations completely to the Kaiju's advantage.

She still didn't know how Herc saw it and made it so that he took the brunt of the blow, despite knowing how he operated all too well. Only that he did and it was his pain flooding her head and not his.

She felt his pain as he clutched his arm and she knew her face was ashen when she reached out to comfort him that he was done until the break healed.

Even though she knew how he was feeling, she still had to ask, to get some sense of normalcy and not feel like they were stranded the middle of the ocean and not facing the same fate of Cherno and Typhoon.

"You all right, old man?" The words were out of her mouth before she had even thought them through and she wasn't surprised when her father glared at her, his eyes going bright blue when he gave her his standard reply of "Don't call me that!" Shouted at her in tones she had long grown accustomed to.

She backed away and would have said more when he got that glint in his eye. She had a feeling that something drastic had just been hatched in his brain and she was completely on board for it to happen.

Charlie figured that was the reason why she ended up standing beside him, a gun in her hand and face to face with the Kaiju that they had just tried to pummel into oblivion. They had faced crazier odds and had survived. She didn't know how they would survive this one, but she was damned if she was going to let her old man face this alone and injured.

She had to admit that when she saw Gypsy Danger come up behind the Kaiju and lead it away from their crippled Jaeger.

It was only then that she put her hand on her father's shoulder and inwardly breathed a sigh of relief that she wouldn't leave Jax an orphan just yet.

~*~*~*~

Raleigh was euphoric when they re-entered the Shatterdome.

They had done it. They had piloted Gypsy and she was almost moving as flawlessly as she had when he was piloting with Yancy. They had finished the Kaiju and were going to move onto the next phase. It was all going to be over.

He and Mako had been vindicated and he was proud that they had achieved it.

He wasn’t surprised when he saw Herc come up to him and Mako and how she practically basked in his words and admiration.  He grinned and nodded at his praise, only looking away to see Charlie standing there, with Jax in her arms. She nodded at him, acknowledging his moment of glory and Raleigh thought that would have been it.

She surprised him though, by whispering into Jax’s ear, all the while keeping her eyes fixed on his, never breaking contact. Not even when Jax looked up and waved at him, smiling brightly as he did.

Raleigh felt his smile waver, but stay fixed until the Marshall rallied them again, letting Charlie have her opportunity to slip away with Jax and leave him wondering what was going to happen next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, I was planning to have this out earlier, but I moved back to China for work and in a new city and it was a serious clownshow the whole way. I was locked out of my drive and had to re-tweak some of the scenes, such as giving the final confirmation between Herc and Charlie and how Raleigh is seeing Charlie in a different light. It's slooowly starting to progress between everyone, but it will take time. 
> 
> There is a whole lot of missing scenes here, because in the movie, time wasn't completely clear cut, so there could have been time for the characters to walk away and regroup.
> 
> Also, a note between Herc and Charlie-He is not abusive and is emphasizing his point with her. He's exasperated and disappointed, but he would never hit her. Ever. Yes, her middle name is Josephine. I have a sneaking suspicion Herc would name his daughter something really old fashioned and very feminine as well.


	4. And This Is How It Feels To Take A Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite training, Charlie's finds that no one is ever ready for death and everyone learns that good bye is not as simple as saying the words. 
> 
> And despite death being a surety, the future isn't always fixed in stone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bastille's "Icarus" has been the inspiration for this chapter, where death is right around the corner for everyone, especially Charlie, hence the focus on her emotions and how events go on around her. 
> 
> Proofed and edited, if there are mistakes, again, my apologies. Enjoy.

“Where’s Charlie?” Mako whispered as she pulled on her tank top and hurriedly tucked it into her trousers. Herc carefully put his arm back in the sling before he answered her.

“She’s in the showers. We’ve got five more minutes, give or take.” Herc murmured, fully aware that Jax was sleeping in the next room.

Mako frowned, but refused to waste time fighting. She instead wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. It was tender. All lips and tongue and soft like flowers and Herc relished it, memorizing the texture of her lips, the taste of her and the way her mouth moved against his.

He memorized the way she felt against him, the way that her body pressed against his and the way that she seemed to melt into his flesh. He made a mental note of her scent, vaguely musky and sweet and the way that her hair felt under his hand. All of it, he filed away in his mind and was sure of the knowledge when she finally pulled away.

She looked at him, with those big eyes that were always so unfathomable to him and whispered it so quietly that he nearly missed it and only figured it out once she was out the door. He stood there, watching the door until Charlie came in, her hair a wet and shining curtain down her back the exact shade as her mother’s. He only had time to register that fact before she slipped behind the partition that hid the mirror and sink.

She always did that, needing the time to get mentally prepared by plaiting her hair and pinning it so that it wouldn’t snarl in the helmet. He left her to it and went to look over Jax, who was sleeping the sleep of the innocent, Max as always next to him and snuffling in his sleep as he was wont to do.

Herc watched his grandson and wondered to himself what of the Hansens he had inherited. Now that he was sure of Jax’s parentage, all he could see of his grandson was Yancy and Raleigh. Only his eyes were Charlie’s and Amanda’s.

His heart clenched with remembered sorrow and he nearly swore when he happened to glance at the clock.

~*~*~*~

"Charlotte, it's nearly time to go." Her father's voice came through the partition and she sighed heavily. Her hands were shaking and she was far from ready. Her hair was still down around her back and she was still in her civilian clothes.  

It was then that she realized that ever since becoming a Ranger, this was the first time that she was going to be going into Striker alone. She wondered then, if her father had felt the same way when she had been grounded right after graduation. She wished that she really knew what he felt. The drift had brought them close, but there were always small details that slipped past them all.  She had always thought that there was going to be time. It felt like it sometimes, the downtime that seemed to stretch on forever, leaving her to spend time with Jax and Max while her father went through files.  

But it had always been an illusion, she saw that now.  

"Charlotte?" 

"Yeah, I heard you old man."  

"Don't call me that!" 

She had to smile briefly at the normalcy of their banter, which she had heard since the first time they had gotten ready to climb into Striker.  

She shut off the memories and picked up the brush and the hair-tie and set to work at getting battle ready, the ritual helping settle her nerves somewhat.  

Charlie only forced herself to look at her reflection out of necessity. She had finished plaiting her hair and now was pinning it against her head with hairpins. She didn’t want to look into her own eyes. Not when she was embarking on her last mission and leaving her son an orphan and her father childless.  

She had no choice. Striker was basically built for such a mission. The speed, the strength, Striker was tailor-made for the payload. She had to go. The only comfort she had, as frozen as it was turning out to be, was that at least her old man would still be around to raise Jax. Her lips trembled as she attempted to smile wryly at that, but she couldn’t make it. Not when she felt the coldness of imminent separation from Jax.  

She pushed the last pin into her hair and gripped the sink tightly as an overwhelming wave of grief swept through her. She had known that it would happen one day. She was a Ranger; it was almost on par with the job description that she would die on duty.  

But it had always been an abstract concept to her. It had never really entered her head that the child she had laboured for twelve hours to bring forth would be left without her. She had only cried in relief when he was in her arms, red faced and squalling at the top of his lungs while her father stroked his downy head after he had pressed a rough kiss on her sweaty and tear-stained temple when the tears had run out of her eyes after she had pushed for the last time and Jax had come into the world.  

She bit her lip hard enough to make tears sting her eyes and took a deep breath, pushing the emotions deep inside of her and clearing her mind. She needed to focus now. Even though she had no idea who she was going to be doing the last run with, she owed them that much.

She stood there for a few more moments, her heartbeat finally on an even rhythm before she finally stepped into the common area to find Jax and Max already asleep and her father standing above them, his expression blank. The only sign she had of his distress being the tight skin around his brilliant eyes and the suspicious glassiness of them. He looked at her and gave her a slight nod before his lips parted and she wondered if he was going to make conversation at that point.

“Let’s go.”

She let out a brief sigh of relief when she heard the command. She didn’t think that she could deal with anything heavier coming from him.

“Give me a bit.”

She didn’t wait for a reply as she crouched beside her bed and reached under it for the box that she had always kept locked from him. She unlocked it and flipped it open; pulling out a set of dog tags that were the only tangible reminder she had of Yancy Becket. She left the box on her bed and palmed them, relishing the weight of them like she had done the first time she had received them while she had been delivered into an anonymous cab while Yancy had smiled at her and sent her off to her life before he walked off to his death.

Her hand curled around them and she faced her son and Max, who raised his head and cocked an ear as he watched her place them on Jax’s pillow. She stroked the crown of Jax’s head gently; careful to not wake him and to only elicit the smile that he tended to get when she stroked his head when he was asleep.

It was more than she had gotten from her own mother, long ago. Yet she knew that wasn’t going to cut it when Jax would be stable and old enough to start asking questions. But that was all she could give him at that time. Anything more would mean admitting that it was all too real. She stood up then and looked at her father, who was standing there, beating a tuneless rhythm on his thigh as he waited for her.

“It’s done.” She told him, her voice steady and toneless as she spoke. He raised his eyebrows at her in a silent question and she pointed to the box that was on her pillow.

“There are letters in there. I wrote them ages ago.” She had to stop and swallow and calm herself again before she could continue.

“So he’ll know. Just give them to him and take the ones for you when the time comes.”

Her father exhaled and nodded, his eyes closing briefly as he did.

“We’d better go. We’ve not got more time.”

~*~*~*~

Raleigh tried to not gape or hover after the Marshall had given them all the speech. In normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have even listened. He would have just filed it away as propaganda. But their backs were against the wall. They just had the one chance and they were going to attempt to close the breach with a skeleton crew, now that Cherno and Typhoon were gone.

He shifted from foot to foot as he waited for Mako and the Marshall to have their last conversation. He lifted his head and looked around and felt his mouth go dry at the sight of Charlie and Herc standing together. They were a bit apart from the rest of the crowd and they weren’t speaking to anyone else, but to each other.

Or at least Herc Hansen was. Charlie herself was silent.

Her eyes were lowered, her lashes fanning against her cheekbones. She was nodding her head as Herc spoke to her, his voice low enough to be lost in the din of the Shatterdome and it made him wonder exactly what he was saying to her. Had they already said goodbye, he wondered. Or had they already done that away from the sight of the entire Shatterdome?

Or did they refuse, like he and Yancy used to?

A pang of sorrow hit him as the old regret washed over him again. He only had the moment of Yancy’s death. He never had the closure of saying goodbye to his brother.

Charlie looked up then, her eyes huge and green in her face and Raleigh found himself caught in her gaze. Her mouth trembled and she smiled a wobbly, watery grin that slid off her face right before Herc turned to leave. She nodded at Raleigh briefly before following her father, leaving him standing there, frozen in the realization that she was walking away from Jax, from Herc, from him and towards death.

He also realized that other than that exchange they had just what felt moments before, when Jax was waving and smiling at him…He hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to her. Or Jax.

Just like he never got to say goodbye to Yancy, he hadn’t gotten the chance with his nephew and Charlie, the last shreds of what technically was the last of what could have been a family.

He stayed still until Mako bumped him lightly, giving him the signal that it was time to go.

He nodded at her and forced the realization and his own uneasiness down.

There was no more time left. They had a job to do.

~*~*~*~

Stacker glanced at Charlie and weighed their options.

Striker was too far for the end goal. They wouldn’t make it to the breach. Not now with two Kaijus swarming around them and the payload that they were carrying. It was all over and done with. Gypsy would be the one that would have to finish it all.

They would have to clear the path for them.

But despite knowing full damned well what was needed, when he looked at Charlie’s pale face, with the huge green eyes and bloodless lips…He couldn’t force her to go through with it. Not when he remembered how Herc had shouted at him as they had walked away.

_“That’s my daughter you got there! My daughter!”_

He had Mako and he knew that it was the hardest thing to do; to let his daughter go to what could have been her death. He also understood that Charlie had willingly walked away from her son to give him a chance for survival. She had accepted that she wouldn’t ever see him again.

He knew that Charlie wouldn’t go easily. Not when she had been practically born to be a Ranger. She will stand by him. Until the end, when they’re breathing their last. He knows that of her. She’s her father’s daughter and he had known that from the first time he had seen her in the Academy and after she had come back with a toddler in tow.

Whatever her faults may have been, she always had that core of steel in her.

And he had to break it, rather than force another Hansen to mourn the loss of a mother again.

In the end, he finds that it’s not that hard to do a sleight of hand on her. He just has to glance ahead and trust that she followed his gaze.  This, she does, her brow furrowing as she tried to figure out what had grabbed his attention. The Kaiju, she knew, were not coming from the front, but from the sides.

It didn’t matter, in the end. He had gotten her distracted long enough for him to knock her out, watching her drop without emotion. Striker jolted with a hard hit and he knew that there wasn’t enough time. He was a dead man walking. She still had a chance.

He manhandled her into an escape pod and watched her go, waiting at the last possible moment before he flicked the switches and detonated their payload.

~*~*~*~

Herc felt the blood drain from his face the moment that Striker’s radar blinked out on Choi’s screen, the red light abruptly blinking out alongside the green lights of the two Kaijus that it had taken with it.

Although he had known that it would happen, it still hit him like a punch in the gut.

Stacker was gone.

Charlotte, his Charlotte was gone.

And he would have to wake Jax up in the morning, just like he had done twelve years ago for Charlotte to explain that her mother was not ever coming back.

He closed his eyes and bowed his head as he fought to push the grief back before it became crippling and left him unable to fulfill his duties. Gypsy was out there still and they needed-

Geizler’s interruption about the Kaiju body was like ice water, bringing him back to himself long enough to bark out the order to Mako and Raleigh.

Even if he had lost Charlotte, he was bound and determined to finish off the mission. They had come so far and lost so many. He wasn’t going to leave it undone.

At least until he happened to glance up and see the slowly blinking yellow light of an escape pod in the vicinity of where Striker had detonated.

His heart jolted, but he didn’t have time to address it. Not when they heard Raleigh’s words and Gypsy disappear. They waited. All of them with their nerves taut as they watched the lights representing the breach flicker and fade and two more yellow lights appear.

He breathed a deep sigh of relief and barked out the last two orders of the day: For them to get the survivors back to the Shatterdome and for the clock to be stopped.

The war was finally over.

And Charlie had survived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I read that the reason why Chuck doesn't leave is because a Ranger doesn't leave their co-pilot no matter what and incorporated that into having Stacker pull a fast one on Charlie so that she still has a chance at raising her son, since she would have stubbornly stayed till the end no matter how high the price. 
> 
> I also had the idea that Yancy had given her a keepsake before they parted and she passes it down to her son, since she doesn't expect to come back. Charlie here is more introspective and would have had to think ahead, so her keepsake box has things for everyone that she knew.


	5. Icarus, What Do You Now That You Survived?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raleigh finally gets the confirmation to both the secrets and emotions he's been carrying, while Herc and Mako stop hiding and Charlie has to reflect and give answers and ask questions after it is all said and done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Icarus by Bastille has basically become the song that I think of for Chuck, hence the title. 
> 
> Penultimate chapter, in which things get moving and the secrets are all being unravelled. Slowly, but they are moving. I did research the topics I mentioned, but if there are mistakes, they are mine and I apologize. Proofed and edited, but things may have gone through. 
> 
> Cheers and enjoy and thanks for reading.

Raleigh moved quickly down the hallways, the sounds of celebration growing fainter and fainter the further away he moved from the control room. Although he had helped save the world, the last thing he wanted to do was to celebrate the fact. Not when Herc and Charlie weren’t part of it. It didn’t feel like a victory without them. Too many ghosts were already around for him to fully relax and let himself go in the celebrations and he knew that he’d be looking around for Charlie, jax and Herc. He knew when he wouldn’t see them that he’d sense their absence even more so.

So he gave his goodbyes and set out to find them and do…He brushed that thought away. He didn’t know what he was going to do, other than maybe offer a shoulder to lean on for Herc or maybe sit with Jax if needed. He guessed that his nephew was asleep and Herc was probably still pacing the waiting room or sitting next to Charlie’s bed if they had finished patching her up.

At the thought of that, Raleigh had to pause and collect himself.

She had survived, but the extent of the damage was still unclear. Her escape pod had been banged up something serious. Her suit was gone in places. Her skin was exposed through them. Raw, bloody patches visible through the tears and cracks. Her helmet had cracked and broken and her face had been a mask of blood, her eyes glassy and unfocused as they got her on a stretcher and rushed her away, with Herc following right behind. Tendo had picked up the slack then, and things had gotten organized to the point that protocol was followed and things had somehow got done.

Mako had lightly punched him on the shoulder and he had smiled at her half-heartedly as she had gone towards the techs and everyone else who was celebrating with all their worth. At least he thought she did. His mind was already far away from there and with the Hansens. He knew he should have followed her and made sure that she was okay, that she could hold up despite having lost Stacker.

He hadn’t and he tried to go back, but he couldn’t.

Instead, he found himself stripping out of his suit and getting dressed in his civilian clothes.

That was how he found himself standing there, rubbing his neck and trying to control the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him. He took several deep breaths before he found he was collected enough to keep on going. He passed the familiar sights and knew he had the right spot when he found Herc slumped in one of the chairs with his good hand rubbing at his closed eyelids.

Herc looked up at the sound of Raleigh’s boots, his expression pinched and unhappy as he watched Raleigh take the seat beside him. Once he was seated, Raleigh opened his mouth to speak, but Herc beat him to the punch.

“She’s not going to be out anytime soon, Raleigh.”

Raleigh’s eyebrows rose at that terse statement, but he didn’t interrupt. He stayed quiet as he waited for Herc to continue.

“They’re fixing up all the bleeding, the collapsed lung, the broken bones…” He trailed off and shook his head as if he was forcing himself to not forget all that they had told him they were doing to his daughter.

“They’re not sure if she was exposed to radiation, or if the burns are a result of the impact or circuitry going haywire. They think it’s the latter, but they have to run tests and isolate her for at least a week or two.”

He shook his head and rubbed at his eyes again, which looked more bloodshot and raw than before.

“But she’s alive. Jax still has his mother and I’ve still got my daughter.”

Raleigh nodded his throat too tight for him to say anything to that.  He swallowed a couple of times , his hand rubbing restlessly against the rough canvas of his trousers as he tried to put a coherent sentence together after getting the rundown on Charlie’s injuries.

“That’s what I know, Raleigh. You don’t have to stay. She’s my family. It’s up me to keep watch over her. Jax is safe enough with Max. All of my family is taken care of.”

Raleigh finally cleared his throat and looked at Herc straight in the eye.

“She’s the mother of my nephew. She’s also my family. Just like you are as well.”

Herc laughed quietly and nodded to himself, the weight of the words that Raleigh had just spoken hanging heavily in the room still.

“I can keep watch over her. Go keep watch over Jax. He’s been alone too damned long.”

~*~*~*~

He was surprised when he tested the door of the Hansen’s quarters and it opened to reveal a sleepy Mako with puffy eyes and yawning widely before she finally realized who was at the door. She shook herself awake quickly enough then and opened the door wide to let him in.

Raleigh nodded his thanks as he stepped inside and Mako shut the door behind him. He noticed then that she wasn’t wearing her usual dark suit and was wrapped in a soft brown cardigan with leaves all over it and soft trousers. Her version of civilian clothes, Raleigh remembered. She ran her hand through her hair, putting it some kind of order as she waited for Raleigh to gather himself enough to speak.

“Jax is sleeping. Has been the whole time I’ve been here. Is that why you’re here, to check on him?” Mako asked in her soft voice. Raleigh nodded.

“Herc’s going to be at the medical station until they kick him out. I didn’t want my nephew to be alone.” Raleigh replied his voice even as he finally vocalized his thoughts to Mako. He and Herc had admitted Jax’s parentage to each other and he was sure that had been because Charlie had spilled the beans before she had gone out with Stacker. He figured that Mako had at least a right to have it confirmed.

Her eyes widened at the casual comment, but she regained control of herself quite quickly before moving back to sit down on the bed that he assumed was usually occupied by Charlie.

“Yancy is his father then.” She stated slowly, nodding to herself as if she had confirmed a long pondered suspicion and Raleigh had to wonder if before she had seen it in the drift she had thought Jax was his son.

Raleigh nodded and looked over to where his nephew was. Jax’s bed was a few feet away and sure enough, his nephew was curled up in a ball under the covers, Max lying beside him, watching Mako and Raleigh through slit eyes. His stumpy tail wagged sluggishly and Raleigh let out a soft laugh at the sight. Yancy slept like that, long ago, with his hair being the only visible part of him. It looked like Jax had also inherited Yancy’s trick of being able to sleep through anything by what Mako was telling him.

“Why would Jax be alone? I was with him since we got back.” She asked, her brow furrowed as she pondered why Raleigh would see the need to come and stay with Jax when she was already there.

Raleigh cleared his throat before he looked at her.

“I appreciate that as does Herc. But right now, I think Herc is the one that shouldn’t be alone and out of both of us, you should be there.”

Mako’s face flushed, but she shook her head sharply.

“He’s watching over Charlie. It isn’t my place.”

“Herc is too stubborn for his own good. All the Hansens are. He needs someone. I offered, but I think that you would have better luck than I. Even with all that you have between you both. You probably are as close to him as Charlie is.”

He bit his lip and looked over to Jax, who stirred, but didn’t wake.

“Even if he is waiting for Charlie, it’s never good to make such a vigil alone. Just go to him, Mako. Go to him.”

Mako pursed her lips and Raleigh wondered if she was going to refuse to listen to him again. They stayed at an impasse, the time trickling past until Mako finally straightened up and smoothed down her cardigan before standing up. She nodded to Raleigh one last time before she walked out the door, leaving Raleigh to take her place.

He didn’t move towards the empty bed, feeling odd about lying on Charlie’s bed and resting his head on the pillow that would no doubt carry her scent. He did move closer to check on Jax though, giving Max a pat on the head and making the dog wag his tail. He was about to move away when he noticed a shiny gleam on Jax’s pillow.

Curious, he moved closer and carefully picked up the object. It was a chain connected to dogtags. He felt a pang of sorrow as he palmed them, wondering whether Charlie had been that certain of death and that was why she had left her dogtags behind with her son so that he’d have something to remember her by.

He looked at them before shoving them in his pocket to return them to her whenever she would be allowed to have visitors and frowned as he realized that they were actually quite similar to the dogtags he used to own. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw the name on them.

“Son of a bitch.”

It had been one thing to know through speculation.

It was quite a different thing to have concrete proof of it and Yancy’s dogtags were exactly just that.

~*~*~*~*~

Herc was nodding off in one of the uncomfortable chairs, his arm throbbing in a dull protest when he felt someone gently carding their fingers through his hair. He jerked awake; blinking owlishly at the one caressing him from his near doze to find himself looking up at the eyes of his clandestine lover.

“Mako? What-”

“You shouldn’t have to wait alone, Herc.” She interrupted him, her cheeks pink at her outburst. She hadn’t ever dared to interrupt him before and Herc was sure that Raleigh had something to do with her showing up all of the sudden. He couldn’t find it in him to be indignant though. He was glad that she was there, even if the circumstances were less than ideal for her to be so.  

For once, they weren’t grabbing stolen moments to be together. Nor were they in the shadows as they always had been when they started. Although he was wrung out, he was glad that Mako was there and they finally had the time and the luxury to not have to hide. Seeing her there made him realize that this was the first time they had ever seen each other in the open without any innuendo or masks between them.

She ran her hands through his hair again, sliding them to down to his face. He shivered at the light touch of her fingers as she cupped his stubble-roughened face in between her hands and stroking his chapped lips with her thumbs. He let out a soft, broken sigh before slumping forward. Mako caught him and embraced him, letting him rest his face against her middle until they heard the doors to the operating theatre open, which seemed like years between her first touch and her embrace.

She stepped back and he caught himself with years of practice and the doctor didn’t see anything other than two people anxiously waiting for news.

Herc held his breath and waited for the news, steeling himself for whatever was coming. The doctor though, smiled tiredly and Herc felt himself go boneless as the sick anticipation finally left him.

His little girl was going to be all right.

~*~*~*~*~

“You’re all set for the day, sweetie. We’ll be coming to check on you in a while.” The nurse had told Charlie after the tube still in her side had been checked and the various bandages and lines also monitored. She hated that part of the day, but suffered it with ill-concealed grace. At least she hadn’t been left in isolation after her tests for radiation exposure came back with low enough numbers.

The only real irritant was the chest tube and she was crossing her fingers for that to be out soon. The rest of her injuries she could only wait and watch them heal. Her father had said that they just wanted to play it safe, since her lung had been punctured. He had bitten his lower lip after that, not saying much of anything and instead stroking her hair back from her stitched up forehead. Seventeen stitches for a gash that had made her face turn into a mask of blood, she knew that he had been scared by the sight of her so vulnerable and damaged so she let him comb his fingers through her long hair as he had done when he had plaited it for her before she could do it by herself.

She had swallowed hard and tried to talk to him, to tell him why she had left her co-pilot and her post, but her father hand only shaken his head and kept stroking her hair.

“It’s okay, Charlie girl. It’s okay. We can talk later. When you’re all better and this is in the past. Just rest now. That’s all you have to do.”

She hadn’t the strength to do anything else other than sigh and obey him, her eyes closing at the rhythmic movement of his hand until the drugs kicked in fully and sent her into a dark and deep sleep she had woken up from only recently.

She pushed the memory of her first lucid memory after the breach aside and looked around for something to ease the roughness of her throat. When she didn’t find anything; Charlie squeezed her eyes shut and licked her dry lips. She wished she could get some water or even some of those fucking ice chips they kept spooning into her mouth to keep her mouth and lips hydrated for the first couple of days before they gave her the go ahead to drink water.

 She knew the drill, but it still didn’t stop it from being frustrating. Especially when she had a large tube in her side, bruises all over and was propped up to a sitting position that she could barely nap in. At least the drugs were good. Otherwise she was sure that she would be going round the bend.

She heard the door open and close quietly and that prompted her to raise her head and see whether it was a nurse, her father, Mako or Raleigh and Jax. Her lips twitched in a slight amusement as she noticed that it was Raleigh this time. But he wasn’t alone, as had been the case since she had woken up. Jax was with him, holding a pitcher of water and a cup as they entered the room.

“Rawley said you might want water.” Jax told her as he carefully placed the pitcher onto her bedside table and lining up the cup right next to it.

“Thank you.” She managed to get out through her dry throat, prompting Raleigh to pour her a cup and hold it to her lips so she could drink. She took small sips, savouring the cool wetness of it until she drained it. But he didn’t refill it and simply put the cup on the table and she figured that he probably had spoken to the nurse on duty before getting the pitcher. She glared at him, but Raleigh’s lips only twitched up at her belligerence.  She was in no state to be intimidating and they both knew it. It didn’t stop her from trying it though.

“What did you guys do today, then?” She asked to forestall any questions about her condition. She was sick of everyone asking her how she was doing and feeling as if she wasn’t Charlie Hansen, but had become her injuries instead.

Raleigh’s lips twitched again and he barely had time to hide his grin as Jax started to happily list all that he and “Rawley” had done that day before coming to see her. At the mispronunciation of his name, Charlie couldn’t help but to give him a look that he returned blandly. She wanted to laugh at that, but she knew that Jax would think she was laughing at him and she was sure she would be in a world of pain if she gave into the urge. So she simply schooled her face into an interested expression and listened as her son chatted and gave the appropriate exclamations at the right times.

The torrent of chatter was abruptly stopped when Herc came into the room along with Mako, who smiled warmly at her. Charlie noticed and smiled back at Mako, but only raised an eyebrow at her father, who flushed a light pink and shook his head. She let her eyes narrow and filed it away for the big talk that they absolutely would have later. He had promised they would after her fight with Raleigh and she was sure he would hold her to it. Despite the main issue of Jax’s parentage now being more of an open secret, since she suspected that Raleigh and Mako were in the know after they had become this cohesive and odd family unit.

 _“All because of my amazing escape from death.”_ Charlie told herself sardonically when she had enough of her wits about her to notice that Raleigh spent time babysitting Jax while her father and Mako were charged with thankless and mind-numbing task of clean up now that the war was done and Pentecost dead. She mentally winced at that, since he had knocked her out of the game in the most embarrassing way possible. But he had rescued her from a sure death.  Charlie, despite her relief at being alive, couldn’t shake the feeling that she was going to owe him a debt she had no idea exactly how she was ever going to pay.

“-taking Jax to lunch with Mako now. Raleigh, are you coming with us?”

Charlie’s head snapped up at the last bit of the conversation she had missed in her brooding and was sort of taken aback when Raleigh shook his head.

“You go ahead. I’ll come in a bit.” Raleigh replied. She expected her father to question him, but he only ushered his nephew out and Mako inclined her head before the door closed behind them.  She waited only a few moments before she tilted her head toward the closed door.

“You look better.” He broke the silence first, making her snort at his unexpected opening gambit. She knew that there was something on his mind and although the deflection was a nice move, she wasn’t going to let him off that easily now that she wasn’t hopped up on morphine up to her eyeballs.

She snorted. “Cut the crap, Raleigh. We both know that’s not what you want to talk about.”

“Yeah. It’s not. I know how tedious it is to get asked how you’re feeling when you finally get the drug haze out, so I won’t. But I will talk about Jax.”

He paused and looked down at his hands. Charlie sighed loudly and rubbed her forehead with her uninjured hand, careful to not jostle the lines there.

“What is there to talk about? It’s not like you’ve not figured it out the first time that you saw him at the table.”

Raleigh snorted and shook his head. “I did. He’s Yancy at his age. Only his eyes are yours. But all I had were guessed and speculations and nothing tangible. At least not until I found these on Jax’s pillow.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the dogtags, placing them on her pillow so that the name was clear. She wanted to cry at the sight of them, but she only pressed her lips together. They were yet another reminder of the debt she was responsible for and wasn’t sure she’d ever clear the balance on.

“So why are you giving them back to me? What is it that you want now that you know for sure?”

Raleigh only looked at her as he marshalled all of his thoughts together. He hadn’t come in with a plan or this conversation in mind. He just wanted to see how she was, how she was holding up.

He hadn’t ever planned to admit that now that the war was done, he was hoping for more than just the loose cohesion they as the survivors had formed. It was just like had told Herc that day when Charlie was getting fixed up: She was the mother of his nephew. She was his last connection to his brother.  But the more time he spent around her and the more he thought about the situation, he knew that it wasn’t just her association with Yancy that kept him close.

She was important to him. Maybe even more so than Mako and Herc and Jax. He had gone looking for her, once they had pulled her out from the ocean. He had tasted fear when he had seen her bloodied face and too wide eyes. He wasn’t ready to voice what it was that she meant yet. But he knew that it was more than just the past that kept him there, getting to know Jax and watching over her and her too stubborn father and Mako.

He wet his lips and decided to simply just go for it.

“You and the family that we somehow made now, that’s what I want.”

Charlie blew out a breath, but did nothing more than nod, which wasn’t what he was expecting at all. She chewed on her bottom lip for a while longer before she finally met his eyes.

“Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Complicated chapter to write, since it's the falling action of everything and it took me a bit to get the voices right for everyone now that the war is over and they have to think about what is going to happen right after. Charlie is more pensive and not as prickly or combative now that she basically stared death in the face and Raleigh is starting to come out more from his shell once he gets a confirmation and Herc and Mako finally stop hiding. It's a transition and it was a bit difficult to write. 
> 
> I've been working like a dog the whole week with very little sleep and it's just recently I got a chance to write this chapter out.


	6. In Your House, That's Where I Long To Be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loose ends are wrapped up, Charlie and Raleigh have to make decisions about the future and Herc Hansen has to finally learn to let go and live his own life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's quite a bit of wrapping up loose ends and conversations that are long overdue and yeah, a bit of action in the end. I realized that despite the tension, there is very little going on between Raleigh and Charlie. At least not until this chapter.
> 
> The time line here is very ambiguous because after the war is done, no one is quite keeping track of time in the regular way. 
> 
> Proofed and edited, but if there are mistakes, my apologies. Title taken from Audioslave's "Like A Stone" Chris Cornell's voice is perfectly suited for Raleigh here, hence the usage. 
> 
> Also, thanks for all that read, cheered and commented. Much appreciated and glad you enjoyed this as much as I did in writing.

Herc didn’t say anything as he watched Charlie limp into their room, her hand on her hip before she gratefully sank down on her bed with a quiet sigh. He was at the desk, finishing off the last of the paperwork he had for that day before pushing it away to look at his daughter. He wasn’t keen on having the long-delayed conversation he had promised they would have almost three weeks since the war had ended. He knew that Charlie didn’t either, but now that they had lives to rebuild, he was determined that there wasn’t going to be that wall of unspoken implications that had been their default state.

They didn’t live in each other’s minds anymore, and even though the Drift was still part of them, they couldn’t rely on that any longer. Not when things were getting more complicated with Mako and Raleigh now being a bigger part of their lives. Not when he knew that they were pulling apart from each other and living much more independent lives than they had ever lived.

Not when he knew he was losing his daughter to another Becket and Charlie was losing him to Mako. He didn’t want to think of it that way, but it hit him when he realized he had seen more of Mako than he had of Charlie in a week when before it had been the other way around.

“Shouldn’t be with Mako, old man?” Charlie asked him, smirking when he blinked in surprise at her question.

“Shouldn’t you be with Raleigh?”

Charlie blushed lightly at that, but laughed softly.

“Fair enough, old man. He’s got Jax for a bit and I’ve got stitches pulling at me. So I figured I’d come to lie down. Didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I don’t always live in meetings or have Mako crunching numbers for me. Besides, we need to talk. Not just about the Beckets or Mako. But what will happen when the Shatterdome gets decommissioned and you know that will happen.”

Charlie rubbed her forehead and slumped forward.

“I was hoping that this wasn’t going to be necessary.”

“Me too. But we’ve been living for almost six years without really talking. It’s time we stopped, don’t you think?”

Charlie snorted as she pulled out the coil of her braid and started to unravel it, the weight of it giving her some kind of comfort.

“I know. But it’s still not easy. What do you want me to say?”

“Forget the past. I’ve put the pieces together to know about Yancy Becket. It’s old news and at least he was a decent man and a Ranger. It’s insulting to you to keep asking you about him and why you made that decision. No. What I want to know is if Raleigh Becket will be a part of your life after this.”

Charlie bit her lip. “I think so. He admitted he wants us to be part of his life to me when I woke up completely.”

Herc rubbed his chin and nodded. He had suspected as much when he had seen the extra time Raleigh had spent with Charlie once she had become fully coherent and was on her way to being discharged.

“Do you want that?”

She wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Do you want that with Mako? Or is she just a replacement for mum?”

Herc closed his eyes. “She’s not a replacement. She’s who I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

“There’s your answer. For both questions, one that I know you would have asked anyway.”

Herc opened his eyes and went to sit down next to his daughter, who was still focused on the long skeins of hair she had threaded through her fingers and wrapped his arms around her. She was stiff in his arms for a few moments before she finally gave in and melted into the safety his arms offered her.

~*~*~*~*~

“You wanted to see me, Marshall Hansen?” Although it felt weird to call Herc Hansen by his title, Raleigh still forced himself to do it without pause. The man was all of their superiors now that Stacker was gone and even though the war was done, there was still the disassembling of the Shatterdome and the personnel to take care of. One of which he was one.

Herc grimaced slightly at the address, still not comfortable with the title that had been thrust upon him. He crossed his arms across his chest before he spoke to Raleigh.

“The Shatterdome will be decommissioned in a month and as you and Mako are the last active pilots, I have to ask what your plans are for after. You have a position with the PPDC if you want it, at the base of your choosing. At my discretion, of course.”

Raleigh had to smile at that nice caveat before he looked at Herc.

“What’s the second option?”

“Honourable discharge, a retirement package and a ticket back to the city of your choice.”

Raleigh looked down and nodded as he took the news in.

“Is that with or without Charlie and Jax?”

Herc made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a strangled growl at that comment. This made Raleigh look up to see Herc’s eyes darken considerably at that comment and Raleigh had to wonder whether he had overstepped his boundaries. But it had been on his mind as he had sat with Charlie as she got better day after day. The more time they spent together, the more he was certain that he wasn’t going to leave without her and he knew he would have to talk to Herc about this exact situation anyway.  Just like Charlie had fretted about it when Raleigh had brought it up in passing. Even if it was a conversation he wasn’t really looking forward to having.

Particularly not if it ended up with a fist fight he was positive he wouldn’t win. He was a good fighter, but he had no doubt that Herc Hansen _would_ whup his ass due to experience and a primal desire to protect his little girl.

“You forgot about Max.” Herc added lightly, but his tone was icy as he spoke.

Raleigh rubbed his face and decided to backpedal quickly in case Herc Hansen decided to forget that he was the Marshall dealing with one of his subordinated rather than an over-protective father dealing with the man trying to steal his little girl from him.

“Without any disrespect sir, I don’t want to make any plans that don’t take Charlie and Jax into consideration. I wanted to-“

“Pretend I’m not your superior for ten minutes Becket and tell me what in the bloody hell does my daughter mean to you? Other than being Jackson’s mother and your connection to Yancy, what are your intentions towards her and Jackson? Because I will tell you right now that if you think you can fucking come here, fill her head with promises, get her up the duff and swan off, you’re got another thing coming, _mate_.”

Raleigh ran his hands through the back of his hair and kept a tight hold on his temper. He had been expecting this, planning for it ever since he had realized that he had fallen and fallen hard for Charlie Hansen.  He didn’t think that it was going to be easy to convince someone as fierce as Herc Hansen that he wanted to do right by his little girl. Considering that his family didn’t have the best track record when dealing with Charlie and especially not when Herc himself was damned vigilant of her ever since he had to pick up the pieces after Jax was born and now since he had come so close to losing her permanently.

Raleigh had known it wasn’t going to be easy, but he wasn’t going to back down.

“Other than me dying or her walking away, I intend to stay with her until one of those comes first, Sir. She…She means a hell of a lot to me. She, fuck, I love her, okay? I’d be a fucking idiot if I were to walk away from that.”

It wasn’t fancy or eloquent, but it was what he felt. He loved her. He knew it when he had pulled her out of the escape pod and his heart clenched at the sight of her bloodied face and wide eyes and he had realized how close he had come to losing her and not being able to tell her how he felt.

He hadn’t worked up the nerve to tell her he loved her yet, but he had said as much already and he knew she understood. He had already shown it simply by being there with her, Jax, Max and her father. But he would say it to her. He could not avoid verbalizing it any longer to her. Not when he had just flat out admitted it to Herc.

Herc’s cheek twitched at that, but he finally stopped glaring daggers at Raleigh long enough to nod.

“She’d have her own discharge to deal with, since Jax is her dependant and even if she is not on active duty, she will be accorded the same benefits as active duty Rangers.”

He sighed and rubbed his eyes before he spoke.

“I had to make sure that you had the right intentions. I’ve not always been there to look out for her and I nearly lost her. I’m not about to make the same mistakes again. Not with her and not with Jax.”

Raleigh swallowed hard at that. He knew regret all too well, since he had constantly punished himself after Yancy’s death by going over what he could have done differently to have kept his brother alive. Over and over until he understood that he had to let it go and accept that there was ultimately nothing to be gained from punishing himself over a situation that he couldn’t ever fix.

“I understand. When are you required to have an answer from me?”

Herc nodded and Raleigh knew that he was also thinking of Yancy and something or rather someone else. He had heard the whispers about Scott Hansen after all, even if Herc and Charlie said nothing about him.

“In two weeks.”

Raleigh nodded. “Will do”

Herc nodded.

“Thank you, that would be all and Raleigh?”

“Yes sir?”

“I will hold you to your word. Remember that.”

“I know, sir.”

~*~*~*~*

Charlie stretched out her arms and gave a contented sigh as she walked to the beach. Jax was already running ahead with Max keeping up as much as he was able. He was a squat dog and even the labyrinth of the Shatterdome wasn’t enough for him to not put on weight. Plus there was the matter of Jax and then Raleigh giving him too many treats as it was.  She had tried to stop that, but it was an uphill battle. Especially when it was two against one and her father hadn’t been around to help out in that regard.

“Nice, isn’t it? It’s still unspoiled despite everything that happened.” Raleigh asked as he came up behind her in noiselessly. Despite being a big man, he could move fairly quietly when he wanted to. She startled slightly before turning around and raising an eyebrow. He grinned at her and moved closer, but didn’t move to wrap his arm around her waist. It was still a bit too soon for them to be that intimate with each other.

At least, not in public. She let him get close when it was just them in their room in the Shatterdome. She had opted to move out and let Mako have her old share of the quarters so that her father could actually spend time with her and as luck would have had it, there had been empty quarters big enough so that she, Raleigh, Jax and Max could live comfortably together.

It had been an adjustment for Raleigh, since he had only shared quarters with Yancy and the proximity of living with not just Charlie, but also Jax and Max was something he had to get used to. They didn’t share a bed as of yet, but Charlie was sure that it was just a matter of time.

Or at least when her father stopped glaring at Raleigh when he thought that she wasn’t paying attention. She would speak to him about that when they both would finally find the time to do so. He was the Marshall and busy with all that needed to be done to decommission the Shatterdome. Mako and Tendo as well were barely available. Only Raleigh was as idle as she was and although she missed the way things were before, she couldn’t deny she liked having Raleigh mostly to herself, since she did have to share with Jax at times.

They left the public displays of affection for her father and Mako. Charlie craned her neck to catch a sight of where they were and sure enough, her father had his arm looped around Mako’s waist as they walked slower towards the surf, their heads bent as they walked. It made something twist in her chest as she watched them walk caught up in their own world and she wondered if it had been the same with him and her mother. She had very few memories of them together, but she guessed so and even though it was completely weird to her to see her former classmate with her old man…She was glad he was getting a second chance at least.

Charlie turned to look at Raleigh, who was now watching Jax and Max rush into the surf, the waves crashing over the rocks while Jax shrieked in joy. Max echoed it, barking happily as he ran further in.

“Jax! Don’t go in too far! It’s deep!” Raleigh shouted, running after the boy just in case he didn’t listen, which had been a specialty of Yancy when he had been a child. Charlie smirked, remembering the time that Raleigh had told her the story of Yancy doing the same thing in Juneau.

She stopped smirking though, when Jax had decided that it was a game and went in deeper into the water, forcing Raleigh to chase after him. Charlie growled under her breath and rushed right in after them.

“Jackson Becket Yancy Hansen! Get on the shore this bloody instant!” She shouted at him, splashing her way through wet sand to grab him once he had frozen in place. His eyes were wide and huge in his face as she grabbed his arm and pulled him out, frogmarching him to the shore.

“Is there a reason why you weren’t listening to Raleigh?”

She asked, kneeling in front of him so she could look him in the eye. She was aware of Raleigh splashing up behind them and Max barking a few times, but she didn’t pay any attention to them. She needed to have this talk with Jax to impress the importance of listening to Raleigh and his instructions. He wasn’t usually so recalcitrant. He had been fairly well behaved before and when she was in the hospital and making the transition home. But she had noticed the more Raleigh was around, the more he was pulling those little stunts.

Jax looked down, but Charlie wasn’t having any of it. She grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her.

“Jax, you have to listen to him when he tells you something. He’s looking out for you. You know that I can’t run after you yet and if you got hurt or killed, it would break my heart. So why?”

Jax shrugged and tried to look down.

“No Jax. Look at me. Now tell me why.”

Jax bit his lip and finally answered.

“I was just playing. Besides, it’s not like he’s family.”

Charlie was sure that she heard Raleigh stiffen at that and even though she wasn’t exactly gentle with him, she wasn’t keen on his nephew wounding him with unintentional cruelty.

“He is, Jax. He’s your father’s brother. But even if he wasn’t, he’s looking out for you and you _should_ and _will_ listen to him in the future. Is that clear?”

Her voice hadn’t really changed, but the emphasis she put on the words was clear enough for her son to pick up and nod in agreement.

“Now apologize and then you can go into the water with him. Okay?”

Jax nodded and she let him go, groaning slightly as she stood up. She watched him go to Raleigh and surreptitiously rubbed at her left knee. Despite all of the PT, it still gave her twinges that she was hoping would go away sooner rather than later.

Charlie watched them talk and Raleigh nod before messing up Jax’s hair and taking his hand to go into the surf. She couldn’t hear Raleigh talk, but she knew he was telling Jax about the ocean. She watched them, pushing her hair out of her face when it was blown into her eyes. She had to swallow hard when she watched them and she couldn’t help but to wonder if it would be the same sight if Yancy had survived.

She pushed the thought away and forced herself to ignore the traitorous prickling at her eyes. She had known, from the moment that she had set eyes on Jackson that it wasn’t ever going to happen. She had known that and had accepted it. She had no reason to think of it now. Even when Raleigh had plainly stated that he wanted to be a bigger part of her and Jax’s life, she hadn’t thought of it. It wasn’t fair to him and she wasn’t going to entertain the thought.

She took a deep breath and scrubbed at her eyes hard.

“You allright, Charlie?”

She nodded and stopped rubbing her eyes to look at her father, who was alone for once, Mako having gone to play in the tide with Jax and Raleigh.

“Yeah. Yeah. I’m okay. Just stuff. But it’s okay now.”

Herc looked at his daughter and then at his grandson before sighing.

“It’s not about Yancy, is it?”

Charlie snorted.

“Sort of. But it’s…It’s stupid. The past can’t be fixed.”

Herc nodded. “You don’t want to talk about it?”

“Not right now, dad. Not when they’re trying.”

“Yeah. Fair enough.”

~*~*~*~

“Has my dad talked to you about your plans now that they’re going to shut down the Shatterdome for certain?”

Charlie asked him as she uncoiled the heavy braid she still pulled her hair into every morning, the red waves falling down her back as her fingers worked out the tangles. He walked by and handed her the large toothed comb to finish the job before he went to his side of the room to pull on the navy blue sweater that had become his ubiquitous choice of clothing.

Jax and Max had been ushered off by Tendo earlier, so it was just them and an undercurrent of anticipation sitting between them. An anticipation that Charlie didn’t quite understand, but needed to address and quickly.

‘Yeah. Yesterday and no, I don’t have an answer yet.”

She put the comb down and turned to look at him as he sat down to pull on his boots.

“Why not?”

Raleigh paused, sat up and gave her a look.

“Because I didn’t know what you wanted to do. All I know is that I’m done being a Ranger. There’s no need for us any longer and I’m not keen on being a career soldier. But after? If I decide to go back to Juneau, would you come back with me?”

Charlie’s face twitched and she shook her head as she walked toward him, stopping in front of him and wrapping her arms around his neck. Raleigh’s jaw clenched, fully aware of her closeness, of her scent and warmth as she stood there, wearing only an half buttoned shirt and trousers, her hair loose and tumbling down her back. It was the closest she had been to him since they fought and his body was reacting to the closeness that he couldn’t act upon in all that time after he had realized how much he wanted all of her. He knew that something physical would happen and soon.

She held his gaze for a long time before she came closer and let her lips hover not even an inch away. He shivered as her breath ghosted his lips as she spoke.

“You just had to ask, Raleigh Becket. Ask and I’ll go anywhere with you.”

There was no space for thought or words any longer. It was all pure instinct after that. Her words had broken a damn and there was no going back for them.

Raleigh closed the distance after she whispered those words, his mouth over hers. He didn’t waste time in putting his hands on her waist and pulling her forward and rolling her onto the bed in one swift move.  She groaned against his mouth, the kiss deepening with the movement, letting him explore and taste all of her as his hands roamed over her body. He pulled down her trousers, slipping his hands into her underwear and touching her cleft.

She gave a startled squeak and wasn’t far behind in doing the same to him, cupping him and moving her fingers so that they were pressing behind his balls and making him give a full body shudder in return and lose all control of his actions.  She pulled back, nibbling on his lower lip as she worked his belt and slid his trousers and boxers off. Raleigh lifted himself off her to kick them off, letting her have the space to slide her own trousers and knickers off. They lay skin to skin, his mouth working over her pulse point with open mouthed wet kisses at first as his hands slid between their bodies and his fingers curled up into her folds, his fingers working to get her wet.

Charlie parted her legs to let him and her breath was taken away when he slipped his fingers into her, curling them up just right to touch that rough spot that made her vision blur just a bit. She couldn’t move as he thrust his fingers into her, pinning her to the bed as he got her slicker and wetter.

He bit her when he pressed his thumb on her clit, rubbing the nub with varying degrees of pleasure until she let out a choked sob of pleasure, his fingers making obscene noises as they slipped in and out of her, their rhythm growing frantic until she had to clench her eyes closed and cry out. She felt the heavy warmth pooling in her groin and the heavy throb of her lips and the heat as he pulled out his hand and slipped inside, slamming into her without any effort at all.

The shock of his fingers gripping her hips tight enough to hurt and his hips slamming into hers tore a shout from her throat. It didn’t stop her from wrapping her legs around his hips, changing the angle when he nearly pulled out completely and slammed hard into her again. And again.

There was no time for gentleness and she didn’t want it. It had been too long since she had been with anyone and Raleigh felt perfect as his hips lined up with hers, as his cock filled her up, moving through her as if she were water.

He had begun to sweat, their bodies sliding against each other and their scents mingling with each other and she was lost in him. Her fingers dug into his back, her nails making furrows whenever there was a deep thrust that made her see black streaks with the force of it. Their breathing quickened once their rhythm was establish, his mouth biting her neck and shoulders as he sped up, moving faster and faster. Her body responded and she swore that she felt a snapping sensation and she came.

Not long after, she could feel Raleigh tensing up and getting ready for his own completion. His breath was coming in loud grunts and his body was coiled and tensed like a spring. Sure enough, Raleigh gave three hard thrusts before he shouted hoarsely, his body collapsing heavily on top of hers. He kissed her sweaty temple before biting her lip lightly and smiling sleepily at her.

“Juneau?”

Charlie laughed hoarsely, her throat dry and raw from their interlude and nodded.

“Juneau.”

END.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured that Herc would try harder to talk to Charlie now that there's no war and nothing to distract them from being honest with each other. He also had realized she's an adult and is making the effort to talk to her like one.
> 
> The Beach is in Hong Kong. One of the students were I work told me about it and I figured it was a nice touch to have a bit of a family interlude with all of them. 
> 
> Raleigh is originally from Juneau, so I figured he'd want to settle down there now that he has a reason to live back there. I also lived in the north and have a soft spot for that area. So Juneau it is.

**Author's Note:**

> Charlie in this isn't as angry or at odds with Herc, since they had to really rely on each other once Jax came into the picture. She is a bit colder and terser when it comes to interacting with people, but is more open to Herc's suggestions. She's still a perfectionist, but not as harsh with others as if she had been a guy.
> 
> She's not thrilled with Raleigh, but not for the same reasons as before. 
> 
> Herc has his suspicions about Jax's dad, but he wants to keep the peace with his daughter, so lets it go. He figures that it's none of his business unless it affects his little girl negatively. 
> 
> Jax is short for Jackson, an inside joke homage to SOA.


End file.
